What did they do before medicines came about? I mean they must have still survived or we wouldn't be here.

Before lithium and all that was discovered, how do you think they coped? I don't believe in medication to be honest, but that's just my personal view- I don't want to argue or anything (just imagining people writing 'how can you not believe in medication '

probably just locked everyone up. and shock therapy. and didnt call it bipolar then either or manic depression just crazy or something like it i'd guess. but i see your point.I am bipolar, have social anxiety, panic attacks w/agoraphobia , diabetes, asthma and high blood pressure. Life is short but i am not.

Uggh...I don't even want to think about that. Too sad...But it's a good topic for discussion! Maybe we can appreciate the attention shown today by learning more. It's always good to be THANKFUL FOR WHAT WE HAVE! But still sad...

I have been married to a woman who has a bi-polar condition. we've been married 55 yrs if you can believe that! When it first started they called it post=partem depresion after our first child was born. Thru the years she has gone in and out of hospitals and as she has gotten older, the condition is getting worse. Right now she is delusional and paranoid. I have her in a nursing home and am hoping for best. Please say a prayer for her.

FIRST congratulations on the long marriage. SECOND i'm so sorry that your wife has suffered so all these years. and i'm sure that we all will be praying for you and her both. i know will be. i'm hoping for the best for the both of you too.I am bipolar, have social anxiety, panic attacks w/agoraphobia , diabetes, asthma and high blood pressure. Life is short but i am not.

i have not tried that one as of yet. i'm pretty new to bipolar. was only diagnosed may 9th. so still in the finding the right meds faze i think.i'm on topamax and geodon and paxil CR right now. but maybe someone else on here has.I am bipolar, have social anxiety, panic attacks w/agoraphobia , diabetes, asthma and high blood pressure. Life is short but i am not.

Thanks for your reply. Having been dealing with this for over 50 yrs your situation may not be too severe. The fact that you discovered it and are dealing with it is the first big step. My wife never wanted to talk about it until much later in life even though she has been treated since about our 4th yr of marriage. Don't mean to bore you with my problems but frankly, I need to talk, even thru e-mail. It somehow helps to do so. I do go to a weekly support group for families of relatives having bi-polar condition.

On a personal note, I see you are from New Jersey. We lived in Denville, NJ before I retired in 1993.

you're so not a bore. you're here for the same thing i am support and thats what we're all here for. i've been married for ten years this year so it's late in my marriage to find out why i've been acting this way. but early in my life as i am only 29. i think that i'm lucky like your wife in i married a very loving, caring and tries to be as understanding as he can be husband. and i would assume that 50+ years of marriage means your the same way. i havent found a support group close to home yet. but am looking into it and i do have this wonderful place. the people are very nice and helpful and welcoming. but you just feel free to keep on chatting with me or whom ever.

i used to live in south jersey, in Paulsboro, on the delaware river, across the river from philly PA but now am in MO (missouri). i'm about two and a half hours away from st. louis.I am bipolar, have social anxiety, panic attacks w/agoraphobia , diabetes, asthma and high blood pressure. Life is short but i am not.

I knew from your name, jersey cherries that you were probably from the Cherry Hill section of Jersey. We lived in several states while I was working and St. Louis happened to be on of those places. Lived in Maplewood, Mo. a surburb of St. Louis.St Louis is nice--but coldest place in winter and hottest in summer, at least I thought.

Glad to hear that you have a good husband. That will be one of the main keys toward your continued health. Always take your meds even if you feel you don't need them. That's when trouble usually happens. As to what causes panic attacks, manic behavior, etc., after 50 years I still don't have a real fix on it. Some say stress triggers it. Maybe I'm a stress carrier for my wife although I hate to admit that. By the way I'm 77 yrs old and wife is 78. Spent about 2 1/2 hrs at nursing home this morning. Hate those places. Am working on getting her home and have home health care type people come in during week to assist when needed.

This is not what either of us envisioned for our "golden yrs" but it is what it is. Complaining doesn't help. Talk to u later.

i used to work in a nursing home as an aide so i know how you feel about them. and i am still hoping and praying for you and your wife that she will be able to come home soon.

i have no intentions of going off my meds anytime soon. my husband helps makes sure that i take them everday. and i dont want to get " bad". and i'm sure you do the best you can for your wife. it's hard sometimes though. and stress happens and is a part of life and no matter how much you may want to you cant always protect her from it. just as my husband cant protect me all the time.

and your not complaining your just expressing your feelings and its allowed.I am bipolar, have social anxiety, panic attacks w/agoraphobia , diabetes, asthma and high blood pressure. Life is short but i am not.

Back to the question.... I always thought that people used alcohol and wasn't aware of being Bi-polar.... I believe my father was bi-polar so he self medicated with alcohol to make himself numb.... Just a guess...

thats probably true. i think the same can be said of my father. he was an alcoholic but i think from what i have heard about him that it's quite possible that he was bipolar.I am bipolar, have social anxiety, panic attacks w/agoraphobia , diabetes, asthma and high blood pressure. Life is short but i am not.

Everything I have read and studied tell me that alcohol and drugs are in the category of an "addiction" but it isn't necessarly a mental illness. There are, however, people with various types of mental illnesses who do abuse alcohol and drugs. Addictions can be held in check but the person can never usedrugs or alcohol again or they go back into the addiction phase. Regarding mental illness, the question is----is it chemical imbalance or does some stress or something else that triggers certain behaviors??

I watched my Grandmother go thru this in the sixty's and without med's they handled it with to be percise 47 electric shock treatments and several visits to the state mental hospitals. As most people know those weren't change to human places till the mid 70's. They would keep her tied down to her bed pretty much 24/7. Try a few more shock treatments and eventually she would come home not quite the same grandmother her lived with us, it would have been impossible for her to live on her own. I was about 8, so I can't remember how many trips she made to Western State Hospital, but I can always remember when they came and got her.

The terrible thing is I have bi-polar also as well as my seventeen year old son. It been a long road since he was diagnosed in about the fifth grade, it was a little eassier to diagnose him because of myself and his great grandmother. I have two other children both grown and I have been married to their Dad for 29 yrs. The older my youngest son gets the worse it gets living in my house. He too doesn't believe in medication, and I bet we spend 5 nights a week, 2-3 hrs a night with him screaming at me about how I don't understand him, don't respect him, don't love him,... how he would be better off if he just committed suicide, he's worthless, he's know good at anything, he doesn't ..... fortunately I learned early on not to ever raise my voice to him, it just sets him off in an never ending rage, so I sit, I listen, I try to build on his achievements, or I just sit quietly night after night, my husband is on the road all week. With both of of us being bi-polar I'm not sure if were both going to make it till he is eighteen next April.

So in the long run maybe good old fashion shock therpy would be better than med's cause I remember my Grandmother being kinda cantatonic for several months. I can endure his treatment of me as long as I know he is safe, but honestly after all these years I just wanted to run my car off the road and make it look like an accident! Guess I really needed to get that out.

I suggest you talk with her physician about the possibility of enrolling her with a Medicare certified home health agency. I ran one for a few years and we took care of a wide range of folks with mental health issues, ranging from bipolar to Alzheimer's. Of course, it is dependent on her specific condition and your ability to cope with it at home.

Just a thought.

p.s. I was diagnosed bipolar back in 1990. Kept buying stuff or thinking about suicide.